Chrissie's had her new, first road bike for a few weeks now. She already has a Giant hybrid she's had for yonks and is very happy on, but envied my Cube road bike. She's bin quite nervous on it up to now. I had to fit spacers so she could reach the brakes (no thanks to the local bike shop who failed to do a final fit cos she wanted flat pedals!) and stick some prompts on the hoods so she could tell which way the indicator was moving i.e. up or down.
I've left her to pootle about round the village for the last few weeks but yesterday she said she fancied a proper ride somewhere flat; Cheshire. It's v.hilly hereabouts. So we loaded the bikes on to the back of our Scooby Do and set off for Knutsford. We had a lovely, gentle, level ride through Tatton Park; actually no we didn't - it's closed today, then round the lanes towards Mobberley.
The first smiley pic was taken on the way, moments before Chrissie had a puncture in her "puncture resistant" Schwalbe Lugano! Never mind; I fixed it with a patch (ages since I've done one) then we were on the way again ... for five minutes, before I got a flippin' puncture in my "puncture resistant" Schawlbe Ultremo. Bu**er! This time I just stuck a new tube in.
We both set off again ... waiting for the next one. But it never came and we found a bench outside the church in Mobberley for lunch.
Then we carried on our merry way back towards Knutsford. A nice, relaxing ride.
So, Chrissie's first proper ride out on a road bike and her verdict? For the first hour, she was contemplating selling her lovely new Cube Axial, so disconcerted was she with the handling and position. However, during the second hour, she changed her mind completely, finding herself really enjoying the ease of pedaling a lightweight road bike, but the last half hour or so brought the dreaded sore bum. Never mind, hopefully, with more practice, she'll get accustomed to the seat (she'd already changed it for a more comfy Specialized item). I reckon she did really well, 'specially with the unusual, for her, STI shifters, and we're looking forward to lots more fun on the bikes together.
BTW got home fixed tube, no success, second hole ... a classic snakebite methinks. Should be dry now, so I'll check again.
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